Aging
Aging is a global health issue where functional and structural changes are accumulated within an organism due to the passage of time. The changes are experienced due to the declining physiological functions and the organism’s highest fertility to death. In 2015, it was estimated that the number of aged individuals above sixty years was about nine hundred million worldwide. In the next thirty years, the number is expected to grow to about two billion individuals. In China alone, the estimated number of individuals above eighty years is 125 million. Moreover, these individuals affect countries’ economic structure, as most of them are estimated to be living in countries with middle and low-income rates.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has a Health Ethics team that focuses on advancing the key aspect of aging health policy by providing an ethical and philosophical framework for the organization’s policy guidance, a model for healthy aging, monitoring, and measurements. The WHO took a step in scoping a meeting that encompassed leading health philosophers, universal aging experts, and well-being for aging. The discussion focused on aging care dependence, social support, health promotions, clinical care, human rights, nutrition, and economic evaluation.
The next work of the Healthy Ageing Ethics incorporated working handy with the colleagues within the Ageing and Life Course Department to generate an inter-disciplinary and full literature review concerning global aging ethical aspects, expert interviews, public consultation on aspects of global aging, and arranging specialist consultation for the development of healthy aging moral guidance policies to be applied throughout the world. The guidance document was to be published by the end of 2019 to provide room for the launch of 2020-2030 United Nations for Healthy Ageing. With the development of such guidance, subsequent healthy aging ethical work and the older person’s well-being is put into practice. The result will focus on pressing and specific ethical issues that have been determined by the public consultations for the implementation of policies on healthy aging.
Aging highly affects business operations as aging populations may result in a shortage of workers, therefore pushing up wages and leading to wage inflation. In response to such scenarios, firms will be forced to encourage more individuals to join the workforce by providing more flexible working opportunities. Such alternatives may not follow business ethics, as there are strict guidelines for hiring and firing employees. On the other hand, the business may not have a better option since the old competence level may be highly decreased.
Lastly, within the coming few years, most countries’ populations will reduce in size and become mainly aged. This will generate a high economic cost, most of which will be caused by employers with the increased demand for the pension system and public welfare. There will also be an increased employee bargaining power that will force most employers to adjust within the employment practices. Increased wage rates and taxes will make most countries less competitive within the international market, and a declining population will highly impact economic growth. Therefore, to successfully deal with such aging issues, employers should restructure their marketing strategies, employment practices, and pension systems to meet these threats.
Works Cited
World Health Organization. (2015) Global Health Ethics on Ageing. https://www.who.int/ethics/topics/ageing/en/